Support Shipibo-Konibo Change Makers

Following up on our commitment to Paohyan:

On Friday, September 8th, 6 volunteers from Alianza Arkana returned to Paohyan, a 1,000 person Shipibo community 5 hours away by fast motor boat. As promised, the volunteers returned to continue their collaboration with the community on climate change education. Arriving in Paohyan on Friday afternoon, they began preparations for the two-day workshop, on climate change and alternative sustainable sources of income.  Alianza Arkana’s Director of Permaculture, Marcos Urquia, joined the volunteers and played a critical role in inspiring the participants to think of creative local solutions to combat climate change.

This workshop was what volunteer Karl Vikat called, a “response to a demand.” After the leader of the community, Limber, attended an impactful workshop on climate change put on by the USAID, he called upon Alianza Arkana to provide the community with a similar educational workshop. Limber noted, "the community does not have access to this information or news on the dramatic global effects of climate change. We need this knowledge."

On Saturday, 30 to 40 men, women, and youth came to learn about the local and global impacts of climate change. Participants watched video clips, engaged in small group discussions, and got to talk openly about how climate change impacted their day to day lives and long standing cultural traditions. One of the community leaders reflected on the day saying, "I never knew about these things happening all over the world, and it makes me fearful for my children, grandchildren, and future generations to come."

Feeling motivated on Sunday, the community picked up where they left off and talked about creating their own solution to the local effects of climate change-- a botanic garden. Marcos presented the Permaculture project in Santa Clara, focused on the three goals of the garden. First being reforestation and protection against fire. Second being food security and nutrition. Third being preservation of plant knowledge. Marcos inspired the community to focus on what garden could bring to the community in terms of income and agricultural education for youth.

After seeing the excitement and motivation to collaborate with Alianza Arkana, the volunteers agree this was the beginning of a new relationship with the community of Paohyan.